Peats Ridge Festival 2009

After what should have been a 10 hour drive taking 15 we arrived at Peats Ridge in the Glenworth Valley just north of Sydney.  Our map reading skills and Aussie sign postings obviously weren’t too hot.  The festival setting was amazing – Right in the middle of the Glenworth Valley with a sweeping river through the whole site, surrounded by ‘bush’ (forest), mountains and wildlife.

We were to spend the next week at the Peats Ridge festival which was recommended to us by Aussie HODR volunteer Fern.  We opted to volunteer and had to work 4 shifts in order to get a free ticket.

On arrival I was convinced I had gone through a time warp and ended up at 69′s Woodstock.  Tie-dye clothes, dreadlocks, people on acid, girls with hair where it shouldn’t be – Welcome to Hippy-Ville!

We camped in the volunteer site and obviously didn’t fit in, looking like surf bums.  But we went with it and got into the hippy vibe soon enough – staying clear of the many drugs on offer; mum.  The hippies turned out to be really friendly and we met some really cool and interesting characters.

Obviously Will and I got far to drunk to make any of our work shifts (no bad Karma as we lost our ticket deposits and Peats Ridge is not a non-profit).

On day one we attended the opening ceremony, pretty cultural – a showcase of Aboriginal dance and tradition from the area, Glenworth Valley was once inhabited by Aboriginal people.  Later that day we stumbled on a car which was being raffled.  Toby, needing a car entered into the raffle investing $12.

One evenings events consisted of Will and I visiting the Bohemian Love Theatre, people were required to get naked before entering the tent – more drinks were needed so instead we went for Absinthe hour and then returned.  Most of the nakedness had finished, the show was a very bizarre experience ending with everyone dancing and throwing cushions.  I got a bit carried away (probably due to the absinthe) and decided to launch one at the lead singer on the stage, at 110mph it was heading straight for him when at the last second it swung and hit a backing singer square in the face – they were not amused.  We swiftly departed.

It was a cool place to see in the new year; an all day drinking session with lots of bands.  New Years day the car raffle was drawn, and yes.. the Tobster had the winning ticket!  He was over the moon, he had bagged himself an old shit Toyota Camry.  Not only was it old and shit but it was heavily moded; Go Faster stripe down the middle, Rear spoiler (A wooden fence post nailed to the boot) – the car was a corker!  We believed it was modeled on the car from Mad Max so it was named – The Interceptor!

People quickly left the festival site and we hung around till the late afternoon when just about everyone had gone.  It was time to scavinge.  We routed through bins and piles of rubbish.  Will and I added to The Van’s itinerary; tent, 2 tarps, rope, a chair, and a hammock.  Toby the pikey on the other hand got a full kitchen set, orange juice, wine, snacks, chairs, a sarong and much more!

Peats Ridge Festival was very different to any festival I’ve been – we ended up loving every minute of it and were sad to leave.  We also discovered some new artists we like; Passenger and The Jezabells.

Tagged as: 2009, festival, hippy, Peats Ridge